May 5, 2023

Former DreamWorks executive Bill Damaschke will head Warner Animation Group and develop a new feature film.

Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD) CEO David Zaslav officially announced that former DreamWorks executive Bill Damaschke will become the new head of Warner Animation Group during the company's first quarter earnings call today.

Damaschke's appointment was hardly a surprise, and it was widely reported in February that he was in final negotiations for the position. It is odd, however, that the confirmation of that appointment was only made in a telephone conference call today, and without any fanfare.

In his remarks to the company's investors, Zaslav announced that WBD is currently developing a new animated feature film and that Damaske is leading the effort. Zaslav stated:

One of our true strengths is the diversity of our storytelling. We are especially excited to be reinvigorating our feature animation business, which has a long history and a wealth of IP, during this milestone 100th anniversary year. Bill Damaschke, former head of DreamWorks Animation, is heading up our theatrical animation group and is busy working with Mike (De Luca) and Pam (Abidi) on new productions.

WBD's feature animation division is in need of revitalization. The company's former leadership adopted a streaming-first model to bolster its fledgling HBO Max platform, and WB's animated films have essentially disappeared from theaters.

Last year, the company only released one animated theatrical film, DC League of Super-Pets. The year before that, it had only "Space Jam": the year before that, it had only "Space Jam: A New Legacy" and "Tom and Jerry," both of which performed poorly. There is not much confidence in future plans either, with only "Coyote vs. Acme" scheduled for 2023.

Zaslav did not wrap up that fact, explaining that Warner Bros. is turning 100 years old, and they had the worst two years of their lives. When I look back at Warner Bros. it was really hard. I believe we have turned the corner.

It was in this context that he elaborated on the company's plans for animation. During the Q&A portion of the conference call, the CEO lamented WBD's inability to make good use of its animation resources and believes the company should become a much bigger player than it is.

This company has not done much animation. We own Hanna-Barbera and Looney Tunes. If you look at animation, you can see ...... We have three animation studios, but they are not productive in terms of free cash flow. We are not productive in terms of market share. We are not productive in terms of growth. To overcome this situation, we now have a really strong leadership team in place. Our leadership team is in place.

Cartoon Brew's Take: While Zaslav is bullish about the company's future feature animation ambitions under new boss Damaschke, he seems to have a very different take on the company's extensive animation pipeline. Warner Bros. Animation (WBA), responsible for televised and direct-to-video (DV) production, has had one of the largest animation production slots for years, and while there is no internal data on how WBA's television productions have fared, Zaslav's dour attitude may mean that there is a larger story yet to be told about the department's productions.